Kotak Mahindra Bank and I, have known P.M. Kumar for more than 10 years. We have a close relationship with him and we deeply value his expertise, experience and insights, particularly in the field of organisation and development. Our management team has developed a trust in him, and we deeply value the inputs over the years. P.M. Kumar is a thorough professional and a wonderful consultant and facilitator.

Prasad or PM as we call him has been associated with us since the time he started Human Endeavour. He has been an integral part of our culture creation all through these years. Initially, he helped us institutionalize the values building process through several interventions. Over a period he has helped us in designing leadership development processes (including 360º feedback), succession planning and in redefining the values that we need to institutionalize in the future.

I have experienced PM as a very insightful person, someone who can cut through the mass of tangible & intangible data and ask searching questions that help reflect in building the institution called Marico. I have also seen his transformation from an insightful process person to one who blends process with business realities & needs beautifully.

My organisation has benefited from his wisdom. Key members of the organisation have benefited tremendously from his coaching. In the years to come as Human Endeavour grows, PM can contribute to growth of organizations and individuals in a human way as they go about building their organizations on the business front. I wish him & Human Endeavour the very best.

Prasad Kumar or PM as we know him, of Human Endeavour has been helping us build our organisation over the last 20 years. The GMR Group is on a rapid growth path and building the organisation has been a mission critical task.

Facilitation and consultation has covered organisation design, structure, systems, culture, values, leadership and human resource development.

In addition, PM is our Family Business Advisor and facilitates the process of setting the structure, policies and governance processes within the family leading to the adoption of a Family Constitution. Sensitive subjects such as family relationships, conflict management and succession have been facilitated with care.

Over these years, he has become part of us in spirit and has earned the trust of the family members and the professionals. He blends state-of art competence, empathy, challenge, insight and above all a strong sense of confidentiality.

As Human Endeavour grows, our best wishes are with him and his team.

Mr. P.M. Kumar has been associated for long stretches in helping build Thermax. Whenever our company has engaged with Mr. Prasad Kumar, we find that we have come up with innovative solutions. He is quick to understand the business and softer challenges facing the company and has helped employees to align themselves to each other and to the business goals.

I have had the privilege of working with P.M Kumar (PMK) over some 18 months. PMK has been an ideal sounding board and has provided me a mirror to reflect and ponder over the process and challenges of managing changes.

In an industry where change is constant and people are the principal assets, PMK has provided fresh perspective on several dimensions of building and sustaining effective and well knit leadership team.

PMK has been able to bring an external and insightful view i.e. context in which the company has to manage. Additionally, he has helped my journey in leading the company through a changed management process into the next level

I have been interacting with Pankaj for over 2.5 yrs now. Simple, pragmatic and effective are the words which I can used for all interventions done by him. A facilitator with a difference, humble and genuine. It is great to see interventions done by Pankaj bring about positive transformations for CEAT. It is a pleasure to interact with him and to be part of the facilitation sessions by him.

“Pankaj’s expertise based on his earlier successful stints with our plant teams was sought to help bring about cohesion amongst the Plant leaders at our newly commissioned Nagpur location. The task at hand was challenging, more so, since leaders from different organisations had been brought together at Nagpur, each with their varying styles of operations, and team synergy was very much needed for the plant to perform optimally. Using a very structured and methodical approach, and his skills of interaction and communication which are indeed superlative, Pankaj could quickly grasp the gaps between the individuals.  Over two days, he structured the program content suitably which resulted in he being able to bring the team together on common goals, which the team had accepted was their common vision that was to be achieved. The result was, that his session had as take away, what each team member needed to do differently to improve their own perception by their peers and also individual commitment for self-improvement. The session effectiveness, is resulting in visible cooperation between different Functional Heads now, thereby leading to better Plant performance levels.”

I have had the good fortune of working with Pankaj since the inception of my company.  We worked on the Human Resource aspects of culture and corporate ethos prior to hiring of the first employees, this gave us a chance to build a strong culture from the start of operations.  I value Pankaj's inputs and would say that the most valuable aspects of his contributions are his broad perspective and understanding of HR related challenges and opportunities and also the fact that he works with me and our team to facilitate solutions from within the team itself.

I was fortunate to have been introduced to Pankaj by Mr Harsh Mariwalla a few years ago. Working with Pankaj has shown me why he came with such a high recommendation! His understanding of people and ability to connect with them combines beautifully with his business understanding and knowledge of how to drive HR processes for long term competitive advantage. Pankaj's personal commitment to his clients are a testimonial to the fact that he doesn't consider himself to be just a consultant, but very much a part of the organisation that he works with. I hope Borosil's association with him continues for a long time in the future.

This is a difficult testimonial for me to write as my journey with Kavitha has been deeply personal and life altering. To convey what she has done for me, means sharing some deep-seated insecurities and truths that were hard to confront.

Despite being recognized as a successful person all my life among peers and at the workplace, I suffered from a sense of low self-worth and a lack of deservability. It was mostly at the subconscious level and no one, least of all me, would have even guessed this was the case. It however manifested itself in many self-destructive forms -obscene weight gain and body shame issues, imbalance in significant relationships leading to disharmony and disappointment, with me feeling I needed to give all the time, resentment in work situations when unable to deal with situations that involved conflict or confrontation. Without even knowing it myself, I wasn’t a happy person and certainly falling far short of my real potential.

It took a lot of work and several sessions with Kavitha to identify the source of dissatisfaction. She explored relentlessly and drove me to explore within, providing a safe, compassionate environment, which at the same time was tough and unrelenting. Her complete belief in me and in the best that I could be inspired the trust to open up and face my vulnerabilities. Through our journey together, my perceived self-worth improved significantly and I can see and feel the tangible life enhancement that has come with it.

I have lost 25 kilos, feeling attractive and confident after 25 years of hiding under baggy clothes and trying to be invisible. My relationships feel happier. I don’t feel the need to seek validation. I have also learnt to be less intrusive, especially with my children, giving them space-making us a lot closer. I am much more effective at work, open up and express what I want and have learnt to gracefully give in and let go when required. As a result I have had several breakthroughs with clients and internal teams. I am pushing myself harder as the fear of failing bothers me less.

Kavitha’s uniqueness lies in her willingness to commit completely, the paradoxical mix of empathy and toughness she brings to every assignment, her deep spirituality matched by an almost uncanny breadth of knowledge of theories and the latest research in her field. She genuinely wants for you what you want and will not stop until you get there. She sees potential in you that decades of inertia have buried and works with you to bring it to the fore.

And finally, there is the humour and her beautiful presence that lifts you, your day and makes the world a beautiful place.

Kavitha is passionate about her role as a coach; demonstrated by her constant care in working through issues combined with follow through for lasting change. She has a wealth of personal/professional experience to draw on, providing useful ways to keep me focused and to maintain proper perspectives. I am grateful to have her as an influence in my life and look forward to her assistance in achieving my future goals. From the way she managed the process, I knew exactly what to expect from being coached by her. Any question I asked was answered well, leaving me totally clear on what to expect from our time together. I particularly liked the way she adds humor effortlessly in our conversations. She is a delight to work with.

As a coach Kavitha establishes trust and intimacy easily. Who she is as a Coach, is just outstanding. She is courageous and really helped me stretch my thinking by asking many powerful questions. The questions she asked me during the coaching were highly appropriate, relevant and achieved the desired outcome.

In the sessions she allowed me to distinguish between relative areas of importance by checking in with me about what could be excluded.

She has very unique style of challenging and her technique seems effortless and natural. Our sessions began with the business challenges I faced. Discussion topics included long and short-term career goals, strategies to get there and why they are important to me. Kavitha challenged me to evaluate what I needed to do, how to efficiently and effectively complete the task and why I would (or not) get satisfaction from achieving those goals. I have not heard Kavitha tell me what to do; I have a partner in a discernment process.

I strongly recommend Kavitha Gudapati because she is professional, experienced, intelligent, insightful, honest, direct, caring and thoughtful, with a wonderful sense of humor.

You would be hard pressed to find a better investment in yourself or your career.

I had an opportunity to work with Kavithaji as my coach and mentor when I was working in my previous organization as a Director, Education Wing. During this period she helped me in discovering myself by making me to realize many of my potentials, overcoming weakness as a professional and also as person.

During her coaching period I was heading task force handling various projects. Dr. Kavitha went into the minute details of each of this task force (which include research, academics and other admin related issues) and helped me for setting goals and planning strategies to achieve the same. The way she was involved, the way she mentored, the type of assignments she used to give me at the end of session, were really amazing. During this period not only my leadership qualities improved, it also improved my personal life. The qualities what I acquired during this period also helped me in achieving the highest role in academics “Vice Chancellor”.

It is close to 3 years that I have left the group. Even now I am in touch with her and she goes out of the way and helps me even now.

I have no hesitation in considering her as thorough professional, very caring about her clients, has rich experience and exposure about her job and very intelligent.

Kavitha has been working with several members of our leadership team for over the past 4 years.   I have been both her coachee and the sponsoring manager. She has coached for    individual needs, worked on team objectives and reporting relationships through the medium of individual coaching.  She connects with people easily which is crucial to effectiveness in this role. She is able to explain her process in a language understandable to the coachee.   She has a wealth of experience in different contexts which she brings into the coaching.  

 There is a good blend of theory and experiential based on the individuals learning style. There are assignments and follow up.  Even when she is pushing for accountability or giving feedback she does it without building resentment in the coachee. 

  Her questioning and insights helps bring in the kind of self awareness required to pave the way for behavioural and attitudinal change. She doesn't come across as preachy or judgemental. 

Working with the entire team, she weaves in the inputs from different members into the coaching of the individual in a unobtrusive manner that helps to improve team dynamics.

She is able to use her multiple qualifications and to switch between counsellor and coach when the situation has demanded it.  She loves what she does and has been adding to her repertoire of skills and knowledge ever since I have known her. She has made a big difference in my understanding of myself and my team members and the way we work together.  At times it feels more like a friendship than a coach. I would definitely recommend her.  She is intelligent, smart, full of life, compassionate, skilled and insightful.

I Started working with Kavitha at a point where my career was in transition at a large corporate. She has been coaching me over a decade at different assignments and during this period apart from growing through the career also transformed me into a collaborative leader.

She would start the coaching process on a specific issue at a most comfortable point and lead you to a situation of self-realisation of the need for change through right questions. From there she would handhold you to achieve the transformation through custom methods. She is very meticulous and methodical in the follow-ups and at times harsh. 

She guides you through difficult situations in life especially when one is at a cross road and need to choose the direction that will lead you to fulfil your aspirations. She helped me in transforming to a leader driving the performance through active engagement of team and right alignment with the organisational nature and it’s needs.

Leaders need to align their heads, hearts and hands to meet organizational strategies. For the last 20 years, PM has played the role of advisor and guide, ensuring that Microland’s leadership stays aligned by systematically adopting the choices, philosophies, metrics, cultures and practices that help us provide Microland with compassionate and powerful leadership. PM is amiable, extremely capable and highly accomplished. Without doubt, his almost unrivalled depth of experience has been pivotal to developing synergy between our leaders. This has helped us stay on course even through uncertain times and has consistently propelled our performance for the last two decades.”

Dear PM

We shall never forget your invaluable contribution to the brand enhancement of GMR over the nearly 2 decades of our close association.

You guided us to craft GMR’s vision and values and Beliefs, so that we remain focused on our larger purpose of institution building, while we put our energy in business building.

GMR family governance in its present form owes a lot to your perseverance and patience with each member of our family. We thank you for mentoring each one of us.

Your independent spirit and professionalism, your ability to leverage your personal network for the benefit of GMR have been exceptional.

We look forward to your continued positive contribution to GMR.

Wish you many more years of good health, happiness and prosperity.

Warmest Regards,

G M Rao
B V N Rao
Srinivas Bommidala
G B S Raju
Kiran Kumar Grandhi